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Are “bright lines” good for self-control?
Do you ever wonder why your willpower can be strong at certain times and non-existent at others? :-) I experienced both states in a short period of time recently, and I talk about the big lesson I took from it in this week’s post. It wasn’t a completely new idea, but this brought it home for me in a big way, and I think it’s something you’ll want to know about. Enjoy! SUMMARY A real-life example of what it looks like to “slip” with your Inner Game. What I mean by “bright lines.” How important they are for self-control. Watch/listen to get the full message. HOT NEWS & DEALS! 1) Free guide: "Three Things You Can Do Right Now To Start Loving Your Work (And Life) Again.” Visit davidlevin.com to get yours today! 2) The David Levin Show podcast is now available. Subscribe at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-david-levin-show/id1401013964 3) COMING SOON: Limited Edition Raise Your Inner Game Medallion. Carry it in your purse or pocket. It’s an UP button for your Inner Elevator! Watch for an announcement. PHOTO CREDIT: Preankhan Gowrypalan on Unsplash [ transcript ] Hey, David Levin here. Author of Raise Your Inner Game, co-author of QBQ the question behind the question, founder of Raise Your Inner Game Academy. I had a great reminder recently of the power of Bright Lines for having self-control. I’ve known about it for a while. And seen it in action before. But it really came home again this last week. Bright lines, by the way, if you don’t know, are basically when you have a hard fast rule for what you’re doing. Generally it has to do with what you’re eating. So, for example, on a low-carb diet, a bright line would be, no bread, no pizza, no pasta no sweets, and so on. Gluten free diet? NO gluten. Recovering alcoholic? NO alcohol. You’re not trying moderation, not trying to just be better about it. You having NONE of it. Okay? That’s a bright line. By the way, I first heard the term Bright Line from a woman named Dr Susan Peirce Thompson and her Bright Line Eating program. She didn’t coin the term, she was actually introduced to it by someone else and had great success with it personally. But she went on to help a LOT of people lose weight on her program. She’s great. So anyway, here’s why this came up again so powerfully for me. If you’ve been following my recent posts, you know that I just finished a 30-day challenge, where I went a full 30-days basically being perfect with a plan I put together for a bunch of different behaviors—exercise, morning routine with meditation, controlling my diet, avoiding Coke Zero, and so on. The challenge went great, it felt great. It really was a total success. But then it was done. So what’s next? The natural inclination is to pretty much just keep going. Right? You’re feeling good. The things you’re doing are an improvement, and after 30 days, it sort of seems weird to not do them, which is one of the BIG benefits of a 30-day challenge. When you can get to a point with a new behavior where it feels wrong NOT to do it, that’s beautiful. That’s how you create new habits. So you continue on. And that’s what I did. I had a couple of days of sweets and pizza just to celebrate the accomplishment. It was fun, it was a good incentive. The family was into it. So that was all fine. But otherwise, I kept going. Still wasn’t having Coke. I was back on my low-carb program. Still exercising. All good. Now, there wasn’t a Bright Line involved. I hadn’t set any fast rules. I hadn’t made any commitments. I just had the intention to continue. But then, we go on a trip for a week to Chicago. The kids are going to music camp. I will be working out of our hotel room during the day. So already I knew that was going to be difficult. Travel is always hard. Hard to find good food options. Hard to get good sleep, which kills your willpower. Your rhythms are all thrown off. Hard to stay focused. It’s just a tough situation.